Aer Lingus staff in Shannon say they believe that management at the airline has no long-term commitment to the airport and may withdraw or run down services still further next year.
Siptu representative Geraldine Morrissey said yesterday staff had overheard senior managers discussing the need to pull out of Shannon as quickly as possible.
"They made the comments on board an aircraft when, presumably, they thought they were out of earshot," Ms Morrissey, who is also a member of the Shannon Action Group, said yesterday.
Aer Lingus yesterday rejected the claims. It said it had given a commitment to continue its trans -Atlantic services from Shannon until October 2008 at least.
A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus said: "This kind of baseless speculation is wholly inaccurate and helpful to nobody. Aer Lingus is on the record as being fully committed to our long-haul operations out of Shannon and has already confirmed the summer 2008 schedule through to October 2008 which sees daily flights to Boston and New York and to Chicago via Dublin."
In a statement yesterday Ms Morrissey said that in addition to the 45 jobs in Shannon under threat after the decision of Aer Lingus to end its service to Heathrow, the group believed that further cutbacks may be planned.
"There are 174 cabin crew based in Shannon but only one daily flight to New York will continue under the new arrangements. The staff requirement to cover this on a weekly basis would be 75. Despite much protestation, and a lot of media and political pressure, people are worried about what happens in October 2008 when the summer season ends."
She added: "We had commitments through the Labour Court process that no jobs would be lost as the result of Aer Lingus opening new bases yet this is precisely what has happened in Shannon with the reallocation of Heathrow slots to Belfast."
She described the level of bookings on the new Aer Lingus route from Belfast to Heathrow as "pathetic" and said it was evidence that the airline had made a bad commercial decision. She said there were "fewer people booked over a four-week period so far than flew from Shannon yesterday".
Ms Morrissey questioned TDs' claims that the Government's hands are tied by the company's articles of association and the legal advice received by the Government in 2006. "Are people's jobs at risk because of a combination of poor commercial judgment and inefficiency by government departments in drawing up measures to guarantee the connectivity of this island and mid-western region?" she asked.
The Shannon Action Group is to hold a protest at Leinster House on Wednesday when the Dáil is debating the issue.
